Reunion
by OffCenterFold
Summary: Following the events in "Remission", a hundred years have passed since Arche returned to her own time.  Even after so much time, some things are slow to change.  AxCh, assumed MxCr   slight language, adult themes.  Missing Chapter Replaced!
1. Chapter 1

Regression

Arche woke up in a cold sweat. That dream again... The dark prison cell. Cress and Chester finding her. The long, arduous trek to Dhaos' lair. The final battles.

The dream was never smooth and sequential. More often it was just flashes, moments of that dark and frightening time. But for some reason, this time had been so much more vivid, more raw.

"It's been a hundred years. That means they'll be starting out... Now," she realized aloud. The fact that it was, technically, one hundred and two years didn't phase her.

"I have to... I can't meet them. I can't let them meet me. That would destroy everything. Claus said it would cause a paradox." Panic began to flood through her until a sudden realization struck.

Arche smiled to herself, but it was not a happy smile. The solution was blindingly simple. Cress himself had told her what happened. The Lone Bridge, as it was called, had been destroyed in an earthquake about a month before the destruction of Toltus.

Arche knew that spell. Now, after a century of study, she knew how to make it stick. And a bridge would be easy to destroy.

The first thing to do, she decided, was a disguise. Just in case. Studying the mirror, she smiled ruefully. The thin girl she had been at 17 was no more. Now she was at least as stacked as Mint had been... Was now, even. Her waist was still small, but her figure had achieved that of Childbearing Potential.

Sighing, she found some bandages, and taking some old shirts, altered her lines. It wasn't long before she was a somewhat portly androgynous figure, and in a few more minutes, she was dressed. The Black Robe of her old traveling days was rather worn and tired-looking, but would more than serve her purposes. Instead of her usual thick ponytail, Arche bound her hair into tight braids which she coiled around her head, then smeared with ashes and dust. A little flour to her hair, face, and hands. The hood of the robe, which she'd normally despised, came up over her head. Surveying her reflection in the mirror, Arche didn't recognize herself.

She wished she knew of a way to travel instantly, as did Suzu. Even the Techbirds would have been a good alternative. Maintaining her anonymity wouldn't be easy. She didn't want to use her broom, but walking would be boring and obvious. If only there were some way she could just appear at the bridge, cast her spell, and be gone. But there was no such luck.

Fortunately, the night was dark. The bridge was close, and Arche doubted anyone would see her. Leaving no light, nor taking any, she slipped out of the house, walking swiftly towards her destination.

The urge to show off was there. She wanted to make a scene, but knew that would be the worst possible way to raise suspicion. The earthquake had to seem as natural as possible.

So it would. Standing in the center of the bridge, the enrobed sorceress studied it. Stamped her foot a few times. At one point, she even hung over the edge to see how it was supported...

"Built to last," she muttered. "Figures." She smiled briefly at the intense irony of the situation, sending a wistful look Euclid way.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated, murmuring the beginnings of the spell. Her eyes, half closed, were focused on another plane. Her hands wove patterns in the air. As the magic gathered and she drew close to the invocation, she paused, the air glowing red around the symbol she had traced. "Claus, this is in your honor. Cress, Mint, Chester... This is for you.

"EARTHQUAKE!"

The world shifted. Fell apart. Slid out from under Arche's feet. Went black.

She woke up in the safety of her own home. The house was dark, but there were the smells of cooking from the kitchen area.

"You're awake," her mother said. "I was worried about you. I heard about the earthquake and came immediately, with a little help."

"You know I had to do it, Mother."

"I know. It's hard, baby, I know it's hard. Giving up something you love more than life itself never comes easily. The temptation to be with them is strong, but you know you did the right thing."

Arche closed her eyes and wept. "Mother."

Gentle arms were around her, the comforting medicine of a mother's embrace soothing her. Quietly, the elven woman rocked her sobbing daughter in her arms, just as if Arche was once again a child.

"I'm not going to go to them, when it's over. I'm afraid."

"You know there's nothing to be afraid of, Arche. They'll not have forgotten you."

"I know. But I don't care. I don't want them to know I did it, even if they know why. And I don't want to face him again. I mean them. Not..."

Arche's mother nodded.

"I don't want him to know about Travis. I don't want to tell him about Claus."

Arche's mother raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't worry. As far as your archer was concerned, you have nothing to fear, nor to worry about. The man is resting in peace now, and the other would surely have no way of knowing."

"Still, I feel so... It's weird," Arche said. "I mean, I know more about him than his own son. But it doesn't matter." She smiled ruefully. "In more ways than one."

The elf laughed softly. "Very true. But how you deal with it is your choice. It's years in the past. Perhaps it's time to move on?"

"Maybe."

Arche's mother kissed her daughter on the forehead. "If you're all right, I'm going to go home now. I'll see you soon," she smiled. "And next time, remember to get off the bridge before you destroy it."

The door closed softly behind her. Everything about her mother was quiet, gentle, soft. Arche sighed. She wondered if she'd ever lose her rough edges.

She sighed. It was odd, she thought to herself, how very like and unlike his grandfather her old friend had been. Each had been quite a character. "Sorry, Claus. But I don't think I'm going to tell him. Not for a long time yet." She gazed south, towards Euclid. "I wish I could have told him then. But I think it's better this way. Maybe. Maybe someday."

For now, she was going to continue the hundred-plus year wait for The One. Soon enough, she was sure. They would need time to rebuild Toltus - or rather, to build Miguel where once Toltus had stood. She hadn't yet decided when she should find them, or if. Maybe they would come to her when they were ready.

If they hadn't forgotten her.


	2. Chapter 2

Reunion

(Author's Note: Needless to say, the characters, places, and all that are all property of Namco. I don't own any rights here.)

Redemption (Chapter the First)

Standing a little stiffly, the figure silhouetted against the window of the sole house in Lone Valley yawned and stretched. It was getting late, and fatigue was beginning to have a definite effect, blurring the words on the page. Studying was doing no more good, this evening. The fading light glanced off a dusty broom in the corner, evincing a faint gleam under the grime.

"No more work tonight. I can't take this anymore! I'm turning in." It was a little futile to make such an announcement to an empty house in an empty valley, but when one had lived alone for so long, that did rather tend to happen. One spoke just to hear the sound of a voice.

There was not much to be done. The house was clean, save for the one corner where some old clothing hung next to the broom. It was as if they held too many memories, too much emotion, to be handled with any regularity. They seemed half-forgotten in a place itself partly abandoned by time.

"I'm getting too old for this," she sighed. "Not like the old days," as a wistful expression crossed her features. Crawling into bed, she lay awake, drifting in and out of troubled thoughts.

_She was staring out the window when she heard movement behind her. _

_"Arche? Are you okay?"_

_She didn't turn. "I can't sleep."_

_"What's wrong?"_

_She shook her head. "That Chester must really be something," she said after a long pause. "What happened to him? Or will happen? Or might have happened? Ugh, this future thing is so confusing!" _

_Mint sighed deeply and moved to sit next to her friend. "Well, I didn't know him long before we got separated. But he and Cress are... were... are... really close. They grew up together. And since time as we know it is linear, I'm going to make it easy. If it happened to me, it happened in the past."_

_Arche smiled, but it was fleeting. "That makes sense."_

_"I thought so," Mint's smile was warmer but her concern for the pink-haired young mage showed through. "Anyway, I met Cress in the dungeon at Euclid Castle."_

_Arche turned from the window to the blonde healer in shock."In the Dungeon! At Euclid Castle? But Euclid doesn't have a - oh... But in the Dungeon!" _

_"It was... a misunderstanding, suffice to say. Things in our time are... A little chaotic," she said almost apologetically. "With Cress, it was worse than that. He feels responsible for everything."_

_"But Why? What could Cress possibly have done?"_

_"His family's responsibility was the pendant that housed Dhaos' spirit," Mint said quietly. "When he was fifteen, Cress' father Miguel gifted him with the pendant, but never explained it. He only found out the details later, after his family was killed." Mint then proceeded to tell Arche the story of how Cress, Chester, and herself had gotten involved. How her family, too, was dead. How they'd met Morrison - which cleared up that whole incident in Olive nicely for Arche - and how they'd been confronted by Dhaos' revived self._

_"It was terrifying," she admitted. "And then Chester threw himself in the path of the spell that Dhaos was casting." Her voice trailed off. _

_"Wow," Arche breathed, spellbound as it were by the story. "I guess he really WAS something."_

_"IS," Mint insisted. "We're going to fix things. Somehow, we're going to fix things. And when we get back to the future, Chester's going to be waiting for us. He saved our lives, and Morrison sent us back to now to fix everything. And part of that means Chester is okay."_

_"But... If you're changing things, how do we know he's going to know who you are? How do we know you even EXIST in the future that's going to be the future when you're done changing your past?" Arche's questions came out faster and faster, and she was beginning to look dizzy. "And what if you don't? And what if...? Oh, my head hurts!"_

_"First Aid!" Mint murmured the spell quietly, but with a wry grin. _

_Arche's look was unreadable. "Okay, you're right, I'm not going to think about that... For now. But..." Her eyes returned to the window, suddenly unable to look at her friend. _

_"But?"_

_"What's going to happen to us? To me and Claus?" Pink bangs fell in her eyes and she ignored them._

_"Well, that's going to have to be up to you two, really," Mint said. "You'd be more than welcome to come with us, but things are going to be very different. For all of us. And... You're not going to have your family anymore."_

_"My father... My mother is... I... Since Ymir, I know I have a mother. I mean I always knew I had a mother, but I mean now I know she's alive. But I don't have her. She's not my family the way my father is. I wish she were. But I guess it doesn't matter. I just want to say goodbye to my father before we go."_

_Mint's eyebrows went up, but she said nothing. _

_"You think I'm being silly, don't you. You think I'm making snap decisions because you think I'm a flake, don't you!" Arche's eyes flashed with anger, but Mint's restraining hand on her arm kept her still._

_"No, I don't. I'm just surprised, is all."_

_"You shouldn't be. Tell me something. You and Cress..." Suddenly the sorceress seemed to fall into herself. _

_"Hmm?"_

_"He's... You... You and he... You're not..." Mint was beginning to wonder if the girl really was all right, but just as a glimmer of understanding began to thread its way into her consciousness, Arche stopped. "I think I'll sleep now. Good night," Arche said, suddenly coherent again. Without another word, she rose and climbed into bed. Mint sighed, shaking her head. Sometimes she thought Arche was so sensible, but sometimes she really had to wonder about the girl's sanity. Arche was still faking sleep when Mint succumbed to it in truth._

"Argh! This isn't working. Why can't I sleep?" She sighed. "And why am I remembering this now? This is ridiculous." Rolling out of bed, she summoned a small fireball and lit the logs in the fireplace. An earthenware pot soon perched over the flames, and the addition of a few simple ingredients would feed her well soon. She looked forward to the happy slumber of a full stomach. She stirred the pot, the rich smell pervaded the small house.

"I'm going to need to buy more food, soon." She looked down. "At least I've mostly kept my figure. Mostly." Not that it stopped her from eating every last bite with relish, she mused. "I do need to get out more. But not tonight."

Another fireball burned the pot clean, saving her the trouble of washing it. A few Ice Arrows put out the embers of the fire; the house was warm enough now, and with a full stomach, sleep should come easily.

_Now the end was in sight, for real this time she hoped, and she had met the man about whom there had been such a fuss. Initially, she hadn't been impressed, but as time wore on, she'd learned a lot about him. And after their visits to the Ninja village, she'd had more cause to be impressed. The man had guts - for all he had no gut. Actually, Cress was right; his friend was CUT! And cute. Although Arche found it hard to reconcile the fact that his hair was longer than hers. Barely, but enough. At least hers was fuller!_

_Besides, he'd started it. He'd looked first. And if she hadn't beaned him with a washtub, he'd have looked more. She felt justified. So much so, in fact, that she hadn't flinched when the guys had caught her admiring them. _

_Besides, it wasn't as if they were going to throw anything at her!_

_Arche grinned to herself. THAT had been fun. And informative. The grin faded quickly, however; suddenly she felt embarrassed and foolish. Why had she admitted that the unicorn would not appear before her so readily? She could have come up with some excuse, couldn't she? Ugh, she was so mad at herself! They probably thought she was some kind of..._

_"Are you okay, Arche?" She hadn't realized she'd sighed aloud until Mint interrupted her train of thought. _

_"Yeah, sure, I'm fine!" Arche's smile was forced, but Mint could tell she didn't want to talk about it as they trekked on. They'd found Dhaos' castle, and were finishing up a few last things, building their strength before the final confrontation. The more they'd traveled, the quieter Arche had gotten on the road. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't so good at keeping her expressions subdued, and Mint had noticed that the girl was troubled. Sometimes she'd be amused, but all too often that faded quickly to be replaced by an angry frown, or a mournful sigh. For her friend's sake, Mint hoped that whatever the problem was, she could fix it soon. _

_Alas, the situation had only gotten worse after they'd found the castle. They'd spent that night at the inn, and Mint had asked Cress to speak with her. She'd waited for quite some time out in the cold, and she'd known when Arche had come out. She hadn't said everything she'd wanted to say to Cress, but it was enough. Unfortunately, she also knew that Arche had heard. And all but Cress knew of Arche's crush on him. _

_The other side of that was, everyone but Arche knew she'd been falling for Chester all along. Even Chester had an idea. Mint knew that he'd been more interested in Arche than in seeing her, back at the Hot Springs, despite the line the girls' conversation had taken. Arche, unsurprisingly, remained clueless. _

_Several minutes later, after another fairly short flight on the Techbirds, they landed on yet another obscure island. _

_"According to the scroll, this should be the last stop. There!" Cress's voice was almost jubilant. "That's it! It's the final treasure!"_

_"The one most dear to the pirate Ifreed. I wonder what it is?" Mint shared glances with everyone. _

_"Why not open it and find out?" Suzu pointed out, making her way towards it. _

_They all followed. Opening the box was easy. Inside, however..._

_"A dress? What the heck is so fantastic about a dress?" Chester's voice was incredulous._

_"It must have been Rosania's." Claus mused._

_"Rosania?" _

_"Don't you remember? Ifreed's wife," Mint said. "That's so romantic." _

_"That old rag is not what I'd consider romantic."_

_"'That old rag' is worth quite a bit. If it were Mi-... mine, I'd never have let it out of my sight."_

_They'd all caught that slip, but no one remarked on it. Claus wasn't the sort to openly admit his feelings. Cress smiled at the thought; he still remembered early on in their voyage together, how Claus had wanted to divvy up the girls between them. Even then, though he'd been shocked, he suspected the older man was more interested in getting a rise out of his new friend than in actually "laying a claim". _

_The fact of the matter was, Claus could tell right off that Mint and Cress liked each other. He had indeed been trying to rile the young hero. It was too easy, as far as he was concerned, but still fun._

_"Well, I guess we'd best take it back to him." Cress kept walking, securing the dress in his pack. The others followed. _

_Arche was once again lagging a little, and she looked more than a little annoyed._

_"He's such an idiot," she muttered to herself. _

_"Nature of the beast, my dear," Claus said softly. Arche looked up, surprised. She hadn't realized that she'd been overheard, but the human Summoner smiled at her. There was something obscure in his expression, something that oddly made Arche feel as if she was missing something, somewhere, somehow. "When I was his age, I wouldn't have gotten it so much either." _

_She didn't think he was being condescending, exactly, but still. She couldn't figure it out, so she gave up. "You make yourself sound so old!" Arche said. "You're not old. You're just not as stupid as he is. I don't think ANYONE is as stupid as he is."_

_"It may not be my place to say anything, but if it helps, he WILL learn. Eventually. And you might be surprised at what you figure out, yourself." The man's smile was wry. "Look how long it took me."_

_Arche blinked in surprise. "Huh?"_

_Claus chuckled. "Never mind. Come on, the others are going to start wondering. May I?" He slipped an arm around Arche's shoulders and winked at her. Grinning back, she slid an arm around his waist. When they caught up with the others, Suzu was smirking. Mint looked a little surprised, and Cress confused. _

_Chester looked anywhere but at them, and not too happily at that._

_"Come on, let's take off," Cress said a moment later. "Graham's waiting."_

_The Techbirds were a dream, he mused. SO much better than walking! He wondered if he'd be allowed to take them back when he went home, to his own time... He was inclined to doubt it, however; that would cause a paradox, since the 'Birds were a brand new 'Tech. It was a convincing argument to stay in this future. Suddenly, there were routes to places that hadn't been open before. Direct lines of travel instead of having to go around every obstacle. And the nicest part was that in flight, their journey wasn't constantly interrupted by the weaker surface monsters. _

_There it was. The mountain-locked island of Friezkiel. Dark and cold and completely inaccessible without the gift of flight._

_As Cress guided his Techbird to a landing, he pondered his friends' reactions. Mint was such a sweet girl; her happiness had brought a smile to his face. She loved the idea that the dreaded pirate's greatest treasure was his wife. It WAS sweet, and a little surprising. Suzu, for all her youth, was even more entranced (or so he guessed) than Mint. Claus had seemed even a little sad. But Chester had been acting downright insensitive about it, and that threw him. He'd been so cavalier about it. Maybe a little too cavalier? Cress just wished that he and Arche would come to terms with their feelings for each other. Chester had almost admitted it to him, one night, but Arche seemed to be in complete denial, preferring to focus her outward affections on Cress himself. Although now she seemed to be flirting with Claus. Didn't Claus' heart belong to Milard, though? And Arche was the one who teased him about it most. Wait a minute... His thoughts were still on those lines when they entered the restaurant. It was interesting, he thought, that Graham's reaction was similar, at first, to Chester's. It hadn't taken the young man long to accept it, however, and they'd left him thoughtful. In spite of the discussion he'd just had with a veritable stranger, Claus' arm had gone back around Arche as they left the restaurant. Arche seemed happier; it was Chester's turn to simmer, apparently. Cress sighed. They had other things to worry about! Why were they wasting time with such silliness? And what WAS going on with Claus and Arche?_

_Suzu knew exactly what was going on. It was a Ninja's place to know things, she figured, so she observed her older friends carefully. It seemed simple to her, but she wasn't going to tell Cress what she knew. Frankly, if he himself didn't know enough to know that he and Mint cared for each other, it wasn't worth Suzu's energy to explain it to him. And mostly, she found Chester and Arche amusing. Their constant bickering was familiar to her, familial even. So many couples at home acted the way those two did! Although, they usually didn't deny their feelings so blatantly. Older kids were WEIRD. And if Arche thought she could make Chester jealous, why didn't she throw herself at Cress, whom they all knew she liked? Wouldn't that make more sense?_

_As she watched them, however, she quickly realized that it hadn't been Arche's idea, and that Claus' intent was more to comfort her as a friend than to provoke Chester. Still, she thought the older man got a kick out of upsetting the younger ones on a casual level. Practical joker, he was. Suzu smiled. These people were fun! And she was learning so much, out traveling with them, that she might never have gleaned at home._

_This, of course, was precisely the reason she'd been sent out. If indeed she was slated to become the next Ninja Chief, she'd need all the experience and help she could get. _

_Chester was on the alert, not so much because he felt the need as much as he felt the urge to shoot something. That girl made him so mad! Look at her, getting all chummy with Claus. As if she didn't know that his true love was back in her own time! Just wait til they were done destroying Dhaos. THEN she'd find out how foolish she was being! They'd go back to their own time, and then Claus and Arche would go back to THEIRS, and he'd go back to his books and to Milard and then where would she be? Back in the past, alone, a half-elf in a time where they were not accepted and wouldn't be for at least another hundred years and more! It would serve her right. Absolutely serve her right!_

_Who did she think she was, anyway? Look at her, little miss magical, with that huge mass of pink hair swirling around that lithe figure of hers, the poses she struck with that body, the way she sat astride her broom... Gods, but he hated that broom. The way her nose crinkled up and her eyelids drooped in an oddly sexy way when she concentrated, casting her spells. Why'd she have to cast a spell on him? Oh, he knew better, of course; her magic tended to be forceful, the destructive sort. Not like Mint's divine gifts. Chester sighed. Why couldn't he have fallen for Mint, and left Cress to deal with Arche? It would've been so much easier, that way. But Mint was just TOO quiet for him. A nice enough girl, and cute, but she didn't have the fire that he craved. Unfortunately for him, for all her spark and spunk, Arche just didn't seem to get it - and she was the one who'd had a boyfriend, according to Claus. For some reason, thinking about THAT just made him angrier. He finally met someone he'd like to be the first with, and she'd already had a first..._

_A noise behind them made him whirl around. "Watch out!"_

_The others moved as one behind him. Arche was already up on her broom, safer in the air than on the ground. That was one advantage, anyway. Claus had his book out, ready to go. Chester pulled an arrow from his quiver._

_Cress was in the lead. "It's just a couple of harpies," he said. "We'll wipe them out in no time flat."_

_That wasn't quite what Chester wanted to hear. "Dragon Slayer!" Despite the ease with which he knew they could dispatch three harpies, he still had anger to burn. The harpy vanished in a flare of pinkish-white flames and a puff of bluish smoke. Cress shrugged and stabbed upwards at another, who was attempting to divebomb him. It, too, poofed into nothing. _

_"Thunder Blast!" Arche's potent lightning spell neatly obliterated the last harpy. "I won, I won!" she cheered, spinning around in an excited circle midair. The others smiled; every time she got the last shot in, she seemed surprised to have come out on top. Even Chester's mood softened a little. _

_Still. "They're only harpies," he grumbled. On principal. _

_Arche rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You're such a grouch. Cress, how did you ever put up with him as kids?"_

_"I'm NOT a grouch," Chester snapped. Suzu's eyes sparkled and she struggled to keep from giggling. Mint was more practiced at hiding her amusement, but Claus didn't bother._

_"What IS it with you two lately? Arche, stop baiting Chester already, will you? And Chester..." _

_The archer grunted. Arche, irritated, flew up and did aerial tricks on her broom, partly to show that she really didn't care, for all that. Really._

_"Chester, just... You know she's doing it to provoke you. Why do you let her?" Cress said more quietly, keeping pace with his old friend. The latter said nothing, replying only with a rather expressive glance complete with rolling eyes. "Why do you think she does it, anyway?"_

_Chester grunted again._

_Cress sighed. "You're still convinced she's just spoiled, aren't you."_

_A shrug._

_"She thinks you're stuck up."_

_Another grunt._

_Another sigh. "Oh, just TELL her already! This is ridiculous." Cress looked at his friend again, exasperation more evident on his earnest features._

_"If I may," a soft voice behind them piped up._

_"Suzu!" Chester jumped nearly a foot in the air. "What the - What the flames are you... How did you... Oh whatever," he grumbled finally._

_The young girl grinned. "Well, it IS part of being a Ninja," she reminded him. The smile faded quickly, however. "I could not help overhearing..."_

_"Spying, you mean," Chester half-snapped._

_"Well, I couldn't help it. It's my training," she said offhandedly. "Anyway, I think you two must make peace soon. After we finish cleaning out the mines and studying the Dwarven Ruins, we ARE going to be taking on Dhaos... And this is not the time for internal strife to be distracting us. Dhaos is not as simple as a few harpies... And remember, too, there was a time where Harpies could easily mean Death for us all."_

_"I'll stop if she does," Chester conceded reluctantly._

_"FIRBOLG! Two of them!" Arche's cry reached them half a moment before she did, careening in crazily to her fighting position. Just in time, too, for the two giants came upon them then, in a fury._

_"Chaos Distortion Blade!" Cress didn't blink as he charged the two huge monsters, the energies swirling around him and exploding forth in a blinding display as his blade connected. From just behind him swept a chain of arrows, hot upon each other's feathers, piercing the breast of the foremost monster. Both recoiled._

_They hadn't even hit the floor when time seemed to slow, then stop for a moment... "Explosion!" echoed in all their ears for a moment, followed by a high whining noise, then..._

_Suiting action to word, the spell rent the air around the two creatures with flames. The stench of burning, unclean flesh reached the party just before the double "THUD" of two heavy bodies hitting the ground. _

_"Lightning Tiger Blade!" Another blinding flash, but this from a more natural source, impacted the two stunned beings. The friends, protected as they were against the spells cast by one of their own, grinned at each other. _

_"Shadow!" The world went dark. Claus' summoning appeared, seemed to enfold their enemies. The darkness was complete; so much so that red sparks seemed to swim before their eyes. _

_One of the monsters was gone by the time their vision returned. Cress didn't bother with any fancy tricks; his thrust pierced the creature's throat as another volley of Chester's arrows perforated its chest. It puffed away into blue smoke, never having had a chance at the young companions._

_"I never miss," Chester grinned smugly. _

_"And you pick on Arche?" Claus grinned back, but Chester was too pleased to sink back into his funk, for the time being. _

An annoyed moan emitted from the region of the pillow firmly entrenched above the frustrated insomniac's head. "Why why Why Why WHY! Can I not get these thoughts out of my HEAD!" The poor pillow went flying into the wall, an innocent victim of her wrath. "You'd think at my age... But everyone I knew as a child is gone. I'm just too old to go running to my mother every time I get upset." Another heavy sigh interrupted her soliloquy.

"It just isn't fair," Arche Klein grumbled, not for the first time that decade. Many years had passed, and though she was still not allowed into the Elven community at Ymir, her mother did come visit her when the opportunity arose. That wasn't enough for either of their preferences, but it beat the first several years of her life as she remembered it, when she'd been under the impression as wrought by her father that her mother was dead.

_Their reunion had been joyful; even at 17 (ALMOST 18!) Arche had left them alone together. A couple of days later, she had returned to her father's house to find her mother preparing once again to depart for the place she called home._

_"I will visit as often as I can. It is so strange, knowing that someday Humans and Elves will mix freely once more, and yet having to wait for so long..." The innkeeper brushed a pink lock from her daughter's face. "You will always be the child of my heart, though we may not see each other much. But the future is broad and bright, and you are so young. We will have time, one day." _

_"I know, Mother. I just wish..."_

_"Hush, Arche. It will be all right." Mother had embraced daughter and slipped out quietly, having already said her farewells to Arche's father and the man she had loved. Neither expected to see the other again._

Arche lay in bed, a full century later and none the happier. In fact, it was one hundred and five years later. She was one hundred and twenty two years old. "I've been waiting around all this time. They've moved on by now. I'm sure they've all forgotten about me. I'm an idiot," she said aloud. "I am such a fool." Rolling over, she finally cried herself to sleep.

The irony inherent in her statement escaped her, of course; for the friends of whom she spoke, it had only been five years. If anything, their fear was that after so much time, she would have forgotten them.

"Wow, Cress, that was some fancy ceremony," Chester mused. Leaning back on the chair, he balanced it on its rear legs. "Imagine... We really DID found Miguel town on the... On the ruins of Toltus." His voice had caught oddly.

"I miss them too, Chester," the blond said softly. Smiling sadly at the woman who had agreed to be his wife, he pulled off his shoes and sighed. "I wish they could all be here."

A sudden shadow passed over Chester's features. "Well, they're not. And I'm tired. I'm going to head home." Girls all over the area were flocking to the new city to sigh over him, but he scarcely seemed to notice any of them. Landing the chair with a sharp thud, he stood rather abruptly.

"Chester?" Mint's voice was soft. "What's wrong?"

"Nothin'. What makes you think somethin's wrong? It's been a long day."

"It's not just your sister, is it." Mint looked shrewdly at the tall young man before her. "It's Arche, too."

Chester only grunted. "That pink-haired little... You'd think she'd have heard about this! You'd think she'd have come, presuming she could get off her high horse long enough."

"And if she hasn't? We haven't heard anything about her since we got back," Mint pointed out. "She may be up in Lone Valley. If she is, I doubt she gets visitors often enough to hear any news. It's been five years. Maybe we should see if she's there, pay her a visit."

"I wish we had the Techbirds," Cress sighed. "Those were so cool."

Even Chester cracked a grin at that. "You're just old, fat, and out of shape," he teased. Cress was anything but; though not QUITE as cut as his friend, the young swordsman who had refounded the Albane school was lean and muscular, extremely physically powerful, and gentle as your average sleepy kitten. Always low-key, hard work had only mellowed him further over the years. Of course, since he was a few months older than Chester, he couldn't entirely argue the entire statement...

"Well, whippersnapper, if I'm so old and out of shape, why are you calling it a night? If we leave now, we'll hit Lone Valley by late morning, if we camp out and wake early."

Chester raised an eyebrow. "Why bother?" Every line of his body radiated diffidence; he seemed to want to be convinced. "If she cared, she'd know where to find us."

"Maybe she figured we'd be busy and ought not to be interrupted? Or that she would be more of a hindrance than a help around here?" Mint cocked her head, studying Chester carefully. "You know, long before she met you, she wondered about you."

The archer snorted. "Oh, sure. I'm sure she was concerned out of the goodness of her heart."

"As a matter of fact, she was," Mint said. "Admittedly, it was for Cress at the time." She smiled, a little embarrassed. "It was no secret that she harbored feelings for him at first. And she asked me about you, one night, back before we came home the first time." The cleric outlined the conversation she'd had all those years ago with the young sorceress, leaving out the way it had ended.

"Hmph." Chester was unimpressed. Cress, however, was.

"She wanted to leave her own time to come with us even at the end? But she's half Elven. She's got to still be around and going strong. Doesn't she?"

"Cress, she'll be one hundred and twenty-five tomorrow." Mint's smile was wry.,"For a half-Elf, that's not old at all, but neither is it twenty-five."

Chester looked as if he'd been punched in the chest. "You guys go. I'm just going to sleep."

"Oh no, you don't. I'm not going to do this alone, buddy," Cress said. The glint in his eyes betrayed the no-nonsense expression he wore. "You're coming with us. And we're leaving in ten minutes."

"Would you like help packing?" Mint asked mildly.

Chester shuddered. When Mint sounded like that, she usually meant she'd knock him out with a Pow Pow Hammer, pack for him, and drag him until he recovered. Or more accurately, make Cress drag him. Sighing, he resigned himself to the inevitable, despite visions of greyish pink hair and wrinkly pointed ears. "She's probably gotten fat and lazy," he grumbled.

"I can't believe you remember her birthday," Cress said as Chester walked out.

"I can't believe you didn't. I've mentioned it every year." his fiancee chided gently.

"Do you think we should bring her a gift?"

Mint smiled. "We already are," she said, nodding towards the door.

Cress blinked, then broke into a slow smile of his own.

Arche decided she wasn't going to bother getting out of bed that morning. There was no reason to do so, no one to see and nothing to do. Today of all days, she was going to indulge herself. Twenty-five years ago, for her hundredth birthday, her mother had managed to take a few days off to visit her. Other than that, her birthday had always been just the same lonely sort of day as any other, with the exception of about 6 years ago when that nice young swordsman had come through. He was sad and angry and all knotted up inside, and Arche had sat up most of the night talking with him. Then they started drinking. Deep in their cups, they found they had much in common; among other interests, they both liked the same sort of guys.

She sighed, pulling the covers over her head. Thick, fluffy blankets bulked over her as she cowered with her head under the pillow. "La la la, go away day, you won't get me out to play!" she singsonged bitterly.

The birds outside didn't pay her any mind. Neither did anything else. The sun still streaked cheerfully across her legs, safe under the blankets.

She lay there for perhaps an hour before deciding to dedicate some time to meditation. She hadn't done so in a while, not properly. It was a good time for it; as good as any, anyway. Lying on her bed wasn't doing it. After a while, she gave up and crawled onto the floor. Lying flat on her back, behind the bed where she would be out of the sunlight, she closed her eyes again and concentrated on relaxing her body one bit at a time.

At least here, it was calm. Peaceful. There was no noise, no stress, no worries. No birthdays. No disappointments. Just the calm, soothing air, cleansing her mind, recharging her energy.

A soft knock sounded on the door. Arche didn't even hear it. She'd fallen deeply asleep.

A voice, calling her name. Faint, far away, vaguely familiar. Not her mother. Who else? Who cared. Whoever it was could come back to her for their stupid "love potion" later. That was the main sort of visitor she got lately anyway. "Go to the magic lady for things like that," they said in towns. Forget it, this was her day. She rolled over on the hard floor, somehow feeling smug, sprawled out in complete comfort in the semidarkness.

Again the voice, a little louder this time, a little concern in it? Whatever. Softness, warmth enveloped her, more compelling than the outside world. The voice would go away.

"I guess she's not here," it said at a distance. Another knock, a man's voice this time. Also somehow familiar. "Arche?" The door opened. "Hello?" Footsteps. Towards the kitchen. Good, maybe whoever it was would go away. No, they were coming louder now.

"Gods!" the word exploded from his mouth as the man spotted a pair of bare feet sticking out from behind the bed. "Arche!" Panic. Raw panic. So familiar. "She's barely breathing!"

"There's no sign of injury," the woman said.

Arche raised an eyebrow, not yet opening her eyes. "Of course I'm not injured, you idiots. I was asleep."

"Arche! You're all right!" Strong arms - incredibly strong arms - were around her, holding her close to a warm, hard body. Arche opened her eyes to blue fabric against her face, covering a very well muscled chest. She could get used to this! Slowly reality began to percolate as she realized that not all the blue in her sight was woven fabric. Some of it was silky long hair. Smelled good, too...

"GET OFF of me you jerk! I can't BREATHE!" Indignation - not the spell, not yet anyway - coursed through Arche's body as awareness dawned. Struggling desperately not to blush (it would hardly be appropriate for a woman of her years, after all!) she pushed him away, glad for the darkness of the room. "One hundred and five years pass and the first thing you do is try to suffocate me!"

The relief and joy left Chester's face, replaced by annoyance. "After so much time, we figured you WOULD be dead. Can you blame us?"

"He's exaggerating... But we are glad to see you. And that you're all right," Mint said with a warm, slightly apologetic smile. "For us, it's only been five years... We were worried you might have forgotten us."

"Never happen," the sorceress said... archly. "Not with all we've been through. But... Well, would you mind letting me up?" She managed a good glare in Chester's direction. Cress had said nothing the whole time, keeping back and watching the proceedings. This wasn't precisely how he'd imagined the reunion, but then again, his tall friend often teased him about being a softie and a romantic. He usually shut up quickly, however, when Cress would point out that Mint seemed to like it.

He stood up smoothly, crossing his arms and looking away, nose in the air.

"Ugh. I'm stiff!" Arche sounded surprised.

"Why is it so dark in here? May I put on the light?"

"Let me get dressed, and we'll talk in the front room," Arche suggested.

It was only then that Mint and Cress noticed she was wearing only a very skimpy little nightshirt. Chester had been working on not noticing since he'd realized she was not, after all, dead. And her body still felt very lean and fit against his, when he'd held her, maybe a bit softer, but in all the right places. And the silky fabric was so thin... He stalked out to the main room, huffing to cover his not entirely sudden discomfort.

Cress and Mint exchanged bemused glances and followed. "We'll be waiting."

The house shook a moment later. "Ice Arrows!" The sound of heavy clinking, as of much ice on metal, was followed by a great hiss as "Fireball!" echoed. Arche smiled to herself and washed hastily. Moments later she cast another fireball, which was followed by a thud.

"Arche!" Mint started for the door to the room, just as the slim sorceress emerged. "What...?"

"Sorry about that, I wanted to wash up. Did you know that many of these spells have practical, everyday uses? Check this out! Fireball!" A small one shot from her hand to the fireplace; the remains of yesterday's logs caught and a cheery fire roared merrily in the fireplace. A quick glance in the earthenware pot showed her it was clean. A few ingredients later...

"Here we go, breakfast!"

Chester gave her an unreadable look. "You've GOT to be kidding... This is revenge, right?"

"Come on, Chess. It looks good. It smells great!" Cress turned to Arche with a smile. Now, cleaned and dressed and in the light, they got a good look at her for the first time.

Arche had indeed aged. Not nearly as much as Chester had feared, but she looked more like a woman in her very healthy mid-thirties. Still lean and lithe, her speed and agility had not suffered, nor had her wit. If anything, she looked fuller-figured, more womanly, gentler and wiser; the years of loneliness had taken a toll. Her eyes were sad, even as she laughed, even under the sparks of anger as she slammed a plate down in front of the skeptical young man.

Maybe not TOO much gentler.

Mint smiled, no hesitation in her expression at all as she took a bite of the French toast in front of her. "Oh..."

"What?" Cress asked, his own reluctance aided and abetted by his beloved's peculiar expression.

"Oh, my... Arche.. This... This is DIVINE!" Mint's eyes widened with delight and she dug in as much as they'd ever seen her. "This is absolutely... Oh, my!" She stopped speaking, instead indulging herself more than either man could ever recall having witnessed.

Exchanging a look with his friend, Cress took a bite. Chewed slowly. His eyes rivaled Mint's for surprised expressions, as without another word, he descended upon the meal with gusto.

"All right, what did you do to it?" Chester looked at Arche, complete disbelief all over his face.

"Nuffn. Ih's GOOG!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Mint chided, barely managing to follow her own advice.

"Eat it or wear it," Arche challenged.

Chester resigned himself to the inevitable. Slowly, watching her warily the while, he raised the fork to his lips.

~I hate that fork,~ Arche thought to herself irrelevantly as it slid between them.

His eyes narrowed and he begun to chew, slowly, never taking his eyes off her. As the awareness of the taste reached him, however, he laid the fork down slowly. Swallowed. "All right. I don't know what you did... Or how you did it... But you did it. You're good. THIS is good."

He looked away, concentrating on his food. Smirking, Arche sat down to her own meal. She felt the weight of a burden removed from her heart. A distant voice echoed oddly in all their heads, accompanied by a fanfare. It was a voice none of them had heard in a long time. ~*You have achieved the redemption you seek. You are no longer a Terrible Cook. You have earned the title, "Gourmet Chef".*~

"There's a voice we haven't heard in a while," Chester commented before stuffing his face as avidly as his friends.


	3. Chapter 3

Reunion

(Author's Note: Needless to say, the characters, places, and all that are all property of Namco. I don't own any rights here.)

Reaction (Chapter the Second...? )

The stars shimmered calmly overhead, marching majestically onward, unfazed by the daily dramas unfolding beneath their uncaring light. Eyes reflected them unseeingly; the night's sounds too went unnoticed by the preoccupied man.

Tomorrow, he would see her. After five long years, he would finally see her again. But was he so sure he wanted to? After all, she could have found them after all this time. She knew where they'd be, knew too that her talents would doubtless have come in handy for the task that had lain ahead of them.

The ruins of Toltus. His family's home, and that of Cress'. His sister's home. She'd been so young. Suzu's age. But Suzu wasn't even born yet, wouldn't be for another 36 years.

"Weird," he muttered aloud, not realizing it until he heard movement on the other side of the dying embers.

"Hmm? You still up, Chess?" Cress' sleepy murmur reached him faintly.

"Just thinking. Suzu won't be born for another thirty-six years, and Claus is gone at least that long, I'm sure."

"Hmm. Go to sleep. Get brainy in the morning," his blond friend muttered.

"Heh. I thought sarcasm was my thing," Chester smirked, rolling over and closing his eyes in another attempt at sleep.

Before long, he could hear Cress' faint snoring. The swordsman wasn't loud, but he definitely did snore, and Mint's much softer breathing made an oddly sweet counterpart.

Five years. And for her, a hundred more.

What if she HAD forgotten?

_"I never miss," Chester grinned smugly. He couldn't help it. He'd worked so hard, he felt he earned it._

_"And you say Arche is bad?" Claus grinned back, but Chester was too pleased to sink back into his funk, for the time being._

_They resumed trekking, Mint's healing not needed after the encounter with the Firbolg._

_"You know, you three are so hung up on yourselves. It's just another battle," Claus said deprecatingly. "Just move on. Life continues even when the monsters die."_

_"Ugh. You're so BORING. PLEASE tell me I'm not going to be boring like you when *I* get old!" Laughing, Arche darted upwards, away on her broom._

_Grumbling, Claus lay a hand on his spellbook. "I'm not old." _

_"Fuddy-duddy!" Pink hair glistened in the setting sun as Arche spun mockingly around the oldest member of their party. She hung upside down on her broom, sticking her tongue out at him._

_"...Sylph!" The Mystic Symbol Claus wore boosted his casting speed as much as Arche's did for her, but she had been unprepared this time. Two pale doll-like spirits flanked her. Still upside-down, her broom spun out of control._

_She slipped off._

_"Arche!" Chester wasn't sure which of them had called her name; perhaps they all had. Still, his arms were out, he was almost beneath her. She was falling so quickly..._

_A large puff of smoke appeared. Taller than any of them, it resolved into a giant toad even as its tongue snaked out, snatching the falling girl from the air, and setting her down gently on her feet. _

_"Thank you, Jiraiya," Suzu said softly as the creature vanished with a smoky "hff."_

_"Ow!" Avoiding the toad, Chester had ducked straight into the path of the falling broom. It hit him on the shoulder._

_"Arche, are you all right?" Cress and Mint were on either side of the discombobulated sorceress, who looked as if she were pondering the advantages of fainting. This had never happened before, despite Claus' semi-regular remonstrations; he was fond of using the powers of the spirits he summoned. Usually, however, there was more control on both Claus' part and on Arche's._

_"Arche, I didn't mean..." Claus trailed off. He looked as distressed as they'd ever seen him._

_For answer, the half elf collapsed._

_Mint looked up, troubled, before laying hands on Arche's forehead and chest and speaking a spell, then another. "I can't heal the shock so readily. She needs to rest, but we need to keep moving. Time is short," Mint added worriedly._

_"Jiraiya cannot stay long enough to carry her," Suzu said softly, as concerned as the others._

_Rubbing his shoulder where the broom had hit, Chester slung his bow over the other, then handed the broom off to Claus. "Here. Hold that," he said gruffly._

_She was surprisingly light in his arms, Chester mused as he scooped her up and resolutely resumed walking. He could feel the others exchange glances behind his back but kept moving. He shifted his burden so that her head could rest on his shoulder, her pink hair swirling next to his against his broad back._

_Working so hard had paid off after all._

Frustrated, Chester groaned to himself. The rock that he'd previously thought merely annoying was now digging more painfully into his side, and he rolled over again. He wasn't going to sleep now, thinking of her. Surely she'd forgotten them in a hundred years. Why hadn't she come?

Memories jumbled with that recurrent thought. It would have been so easy, back then, to kiss her, even if only on the forehead. Why hadn't he? Why hadn't he made her his own when he'd first had the chance? Would he ever have another? Claus had told him he would, once, but the archer had his doubts.

Chester missed the older man rather fiercely, though he was loath to admit it. Not only did the guy have great ideas and a sharp sense of humor, but he knew some tricks to keep hair looking healthy and soft. The archer missed having a fellow man with whom to swap such secrets; it just wasn't the same with the girls. They tended to start viewing him as "one of their own," which put a damper on his social life.

Not that he had much of one, he mused. After all, he never admitted that it was by choice. It was always some coincidence or other that kept him from meeting girls, or from getting too attached. There had been too much to do, rebuilding the village. There wasn't enough time. Many girls were too silly, or soft, or sweet. Not that there was anything wrong with sweet. Chester just didn't have patience for sappiness. He liked a woman who made him think, who knew how to push his buttons - and who still chose not to do so.

It was a long time before he fell asleep, parading girls one at a time in his mind. In the past five years, he'd met plenty. Some of them were even married, but those he turned away in no uncertain terms. Chester Burklight wasn't the purest heart in the world, but he would not compromise himself for anything. And one thing he believed in was a vow. Another was true love.

_Hsssthwok. Hsssthwok. Hsssthwok. Arrow after arrow found itself embedded deep in the heart of a target. Why HAD she come out? And she'd been nice to him. Was she __apologizing, or merely mocking him further? She was cute, but all that did was complicate things._

_Was she really that superficial? That mean? Did she really think he was scrawny? What had she meant, she couldn't even breathe? Why did what she thought mean so much to him?_

_Hsssthwok._

_Suddenly he realized. It DID. What she thought mattered. But... she was so... so..._

_She was everything he'd once hated in a girl. Flirtatious, flighty (pun intended, he mused to himself wryly), flaky... Emotional, exuberant, saucy... He'd once fancied himself into girls like Mint. Quiet, studious sorts who would be calmly amused by him, willing to indulge his intellectual mind once in a while. Domestic types._

_Hsssthwok._

_Definitely not Arche's type._

_Hsssthwok._

_And what did she mean by that, she couldn't even breathe when she looked at him? _

_Hsssthwok._

_By the gods... He was in love with her._

_Hsssthwok._

_And all she'd ever do..._

_Hsssthwok._

_Was mock him. He knew it._

_HsssTHWACK!_

_The target toppled over._

The rest of their journey was uneventful, and somewhat shorter than they'd imagined. Before long, the bridge to Lone Valley (repaired at last!) was in sight, and as they crossed it, they could see the small house at the entrance to the cavernous route itself.

The house looked all but abandoned.

"Oh well, no one's there, what a shame." Chester said, making a tight U-turn and starting for home.

"Not so fast, tough guy." Mint had the Pow Pow Smile. She was the first to knock; closer inspection had shown signs of recent habitation.

There was no answer. "Arche?"

Only silence greeted her. She tried again, a little louder. "Arche?" She began to wonder if this was the girl's home, but there was a presence of SOMEONE here... And to her senses, it did feel like Arche.

Still, the silence boded unfavorably for them. "I guess she's not here," she said.

Cress stepped up to the door, knocked a little harder. "Arche?" The door opened. "Hello?" Cautiously, he stepped inside. Chester, affecting disinterest, remained outside, watching the clouds. Walking towards the kitchen, Cress noted that, though no one was there, it seemed well tended, and there were the reminiscent smells of good cooking. He retraced his steps, making his way now back towards the sleeping area. That's when he saw the two legs sticking out from behind the bed, the sprawled body attached to them.

"Gods!" the word exploded from his mouth. "Arche!" She couldn't possibly...

As soon as Chester heard his friend's initial exclamation, he swept into the room. Seeing what Cress had seen, fear overtook him.

"She's barely breathing!" Cress was panicked.

Memory flooded through Chester, though the thoughts had been in his head as recently as the night before. Holding her as she lay, largely unconscious with shock. Pink hair dancing in the sunlight. She had been so right, even about Dhaos.

"There's no sign of injury," Mint said.

Arche raised an eyebrow, not yet opening her eyes. "Of course I'm not injured, you idiots. I was asleep."

"Arche! You're all right!" He couldn't stop himself. Chester pushed past his friends and gathered the still supine woman into his arms, holding her close to his chest. His face buried in her hair, he couldn't help but feel the softness of her body, the way she smelled so sweet, just how much she felt like she BELONGED, there in his arms. Her breathing brought her chest closer to his stomach, but for all the desire that suddenly coursed through him, all he wanted to do was hold her and never let go.

Until her hands planted themselves in his stomach and pushed him away, nearly knocking him into a sitting position.

"GET OFF of me you jerk! I can't BREATHE!" Startled, Chester stared at Arche, her eyes flashing with indignation. Fortunately for him, it wasn't the spell... "One hundred and five years pass and the first thing you do is try to suffocate me!"

The relief and joy left Chester's face, replaced by annoyance. "After so much time, we figured you WOULD be dead. Can you blame us?"

"He's exaggerating. But we are glad to see you. And that you're all right," Mint said with a warm, slightly apologetic smile. "For us, it's only been five years. We were worried you might have forgotten us."

"Never happen," the sorceress said... archly. "Not with all we've been through. But... Well, would you mind letting me up?" She managed a good glare in Chester's direction. Cress had said nothing the whole time, keeping back and watching the proceedings. This wasn't precisely how he'd imagined the reunion, but then again, his tall friend often teased him about being a softie and a romantic. He usually shut up quickly, however, when Cress would point out that Mint seemed to like it.

He stood up smoothly, crossing his arms and looking away, nose in the air. And he'd been so worried she'd forget them, he chided himself.

"Ugh. I'm stiff!" Arche sounded surprised.

Mint decided to intervene before Chester could comment. "Why is it so dark in here? May I put on the light?"

"Let me get dressed, and we'll talk in the front room," Arche suggested.

It was only then that Mint and Cress noticed she was wearing only a very skimpy little nightshirt. Chester had noticed quite a bit when he'd held her... But how could he have imagined she'd have changed so very little after so many years? In most ways, anyway. Certainly she wasn't quite as lean as she had been, though she was in good shape. VERY good shape. She'd seemed to enjoy it, seemed even to snuggle closer to him, before she got so violent. Confused, hurt, and angry, he stalked out of the room, wondering to himself why she always had that effect on him.

Cress and Mint exchanged bemused glances and followed. "We'll be waiting."

The house shook a moment later. "Ice Arrows!" The sound of heavy clinking, as of much ice on metal, followed by a great hiss as "Fireball!" echoed. The three friends edged towards the door. Moments later, another, softer cry of "Fireball!" was followed by a thud.

"Arche!" Mint started for the door to the room, just as the slim sorceress emerged. "What...?"

"Sorry about that, I wanted to wash up. Did you know that many of these spells have practical, everyday uses? Check this out! Fireball!" A small one shot from her hand to the fireplace; the remains of yesterday's logs caught and a cheery fire roared merrily in the fireplace. A quick glance in the earthenware pot showed her it was clean. A few ingredients later...

"Here we go, breakfast!"

Chester wasn't buying it. No matter how many years had passed, he didn't trust her cooking. "You've GOT to be kidding. This is revenge, right?"

"Come on, Chess. It looks good. It smells great!" Cress turned to Arche with a smile. Now, cleaned and dressed and in the light, they got a good look at her for the first time.

Arche had indeed aged. Not nearly as much as Chester had feared, but she looked more like a woman in her very healthy mid-thirties. Still lean and lithe, her speed and agility had not suffered, nor had her wit. If anything, she looked fuller-figured, more womanly, gentler and wiser; the years of loneliness had taken a toll. Her eyes were sad, even as she laughed, even under the sparks of anger as she slammed a plate down in front of the skeptical young man.

Maybe not TOO much gentler.

Mint smiled, no hesitation in her expression at all as she took a bite of the French toast in front of her. "Oh..."

"What?" Cress asked, his own reluctance aided and abetted by his beloved's peculiar expression.

"Oh, my... Arche... This... This is DIVINE!" Mint's eyes widened with delight and she dug in as much as they'd ever seen her. "This is absolutely... Oh, my!" She stopped speaking, instead indulging herself more than either man could ever recall having witnessed.

Exchanging a look with his friend, Cress took a bite. Chewed slowly. His eyes rivaled Mint's for surprised expressions, as without another word, he descended upon the meal with gusto.

"All right, what did you do to it?" Chester looked at Arche, complete disbelief all over his face.

"Nuffn. Ih's GOOG!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Mint chided, barely managing to do so herself.

"Eat it or wear it," Arche challenged.

Chester resigned himself to the inevitable. Slowly, watching her warily the while, he raised the fork to his lips.

He still didn't trust her cooking, but Cress and Mint still seemed to be okay...

His eyes narrowed and he begun to chew, slowly, never taking his eyes off her. As the awareness of the taste reached him, however, he laid the fork down slowly. Swallowed. "All right. I don't know what you did... Or how you did it. But you did it. You're good. THIS is good."

He looked away, concentrating on his food. Smirking, Arche sat down to her own meal. She felt the weight of a burden removed from her heart. A distant voice echoed oddly in all their heads, accompanied by a fanfare. It was a voice none of them had heard in a long time. ~*You have achieved the redemption you seek. You are no longer a Terrible Cook. You have earned the title, "Gourmet Chef".*~

"There's a voice we haven't heard in a while," Chester commented before stuffing his face as avidly as his friends.

"Cool, isn't it?" Cress grinned between bites. "Kinda makes me miss the old adventuring days."

"Oh, yeah, because twenty-three is so ancient," Chester smirked.

Only Mint caught Arche's tiny sigh.

"Maybe we'll go again, one day," she said. "I can't honestly say I loved it the way you all did, but surely one small trip for old time's sake wouldn't hurt. It won't be the same, though." The flash of hesitation was gone in an instant, but the others caught it.

"I know, Mint. I miss them too."

"It's weird that Suzu isn't even going to be BORN for another thirty-four years," Chester put forth.

"Claus lived with Milard," Arche said softly. "They married, of course, and both lived well. But when Milard died, Claus followed soon after. He was over 80."

He'd been 84, in fact. And when Arche had reached that age, she'd nearly had a breakdown. She'd about given up on living, at that point. After all, when your closest friends are decades away in one direction or the other, to whom can you turn? Fortunately for her, though human life was comparatively short, it was prolific and promising, and even in her darkest hour, she had not been alone. In fact, she had met someone who, as it had turned out, was more of a bridge over the chasm of her heart at the time than she might have imagined.

But that was of no import. She wasn't going to tell her friends of that time now. Possibly not ever.

Well, maybe someday. She had been more than a little shocked when she learned more about the friend she had made, in the intervening years. But she had lost touch with him once certain facts had come to light.

After a long moment of quiet, Chester pushed his chair away from the table, the last of them to finish eating. "I think I may have misjudged you, Arche."

Pink brows went up warily.

"No, I mean it. I figured you were doomed to be a terrible cook forever." He smirked, but it wasn't really a mean smirk; rather it was the look of the cat who'd just had the fattest canary ever for breakfast. "If it's always this satisfying, I could get used to being wrong. Once in a while."

"Only once in a while?" Arche couldn't help herself, but Chester was too full and relaxed to rise to the bait.

"When you're as perfect as I am, once in a while is the most that'll ever happen," he murmured. The others looked at him in amusement, until they realized he was actually dozing off at the table.

"The truth is, he didn't sleep well on the road," Mint said softly when Arche was beginning to look annoyed. "He was having some doubts."

"Doubts?"

"He thought you'd forgotten us, for one thing," Cress filled in. "Also, he was upset that you hadn't come looking for us for all kinds of reasons. And then, of course, there's the other thing."

"The other thing?" Arche was beginning to feel like a parrot.

Mint took over again. "It's been happening to all three of us lately. Flashbacks. Sudden memories coming at odd moments. Things that seemed so minor at the time, but for some reason seem to have some kind of import in our lives. I know that's the way memory works, but it's a little unnerving. And worse for Chester, because, well, Cress and I have had each other to lean on."

Arche's mouth opened and shut several times, as if she wanted to say something but either couldn't think of what to say, or changed her mind about it repeatedly.

Cress smiled down at Mint. "Mint has agreed to do me the honor of becoming my wife."

Arche seemed only faintly surprised at that. "What took so long?"

Chester snored softly, which set them all into quiet giggles.

"Maybe we should put him to bed?"

"Nah, he looks fine where he is." Arche was not keen on the idea of Chester sleeping in her room, even in her guest bed. Although, he had been so warm, felt so strong when he held her...

"Are you okay, Arche?" Cress looked concerned.

"I'm fine," the suddenly red-faced half-elf said abruptly.

Mint only smiled again, sending her fiance a reassuring glance. "It's a shame you weren't able to come to the dedication ceremony yesterday, for Miguel."

Arche's expression went absolutely blank. "I didn't know if I'd be welcome."

Cress and Mint both goggled at her. "What? Where would you get such a silly idea!"

"Well... Just before we returned to our respective present times..." Arche turned away, her expression unreadable. "Claus and I had a talk. He wanted me to tell you something. He said if I waited, there would be a lot more to tell, and some of it even harder. I didn't want to. He said I'd have to face up to things sooner or later, and that I couldn't run away forever.

"When Milard died, it was only two months until he followed her, but we had that discussion again. He said that he knew I didn't want to, and he understood why, but that when the time came for us to meet back up again, you were going to find out eventually. And again that there was going to be more to tell.

"Did you guys ever get the impression that he... You know... Knew stuff?" Arche looked at her friends at last, pained confusion clear on her features.

"Knew stuff?" Mint echoed. "Like what?"

"I think she means in advance. When things were going to happen. I don't think so. If you remember, it was you who had concerns about our actions, back in Midgards, in our past. You were the one who thought Dhaos wasn't simply out to destroy the world." Cress looked sad and thoughtful.

Chester snored again and rolled over in the chair, nearly falling off, yet not waking up.

Cress and Mint pretended not to notice how Arche was looking at him.

"No, Arche, I don't think he did. Not unless Origin told him things, and he did ask on occasion. Sometimes, though, I think the Spirit told him on its own. It's funny to think that a Spirit would come to care about a human, especially one to whom it was bound." Mint looked thoughtful.

"Maybe you're right. But he knew about things that didn't happen until after he died. Not much, but he knew about them. Maybe they were even guesses.

"But he knew why I didn't want to tell Chester what he wanted me to tell him when we all first parted ways."

The archer in question was very still. He stopped snoring altogether, holding his breath. Frozen, he listened with every inch of his being for what she would say next.

"We can tell you're faking it, Chester."

Well, THAT certainly wasn't it. Slowly opening one eye, he looked at the sorceress who glared down at him. "Faking what?" he said groggily, false innocence written all over him.

"Maybe you dozed off before, but you've heard every word. And for that, you don't deserve to know!"

"Like there's anything to tell," he said, sitting up properly. Stretching, he rolled his head around on his stiff neck, wincing.

"Serves you right for faking sleep."

"Now that's not fair. I wasn't faking. I don't fake. Unlike some people."

Mint and Cress exchanged a nervous glance. The way Arche had gone white, then red, then white again so quickly was cause for concern, but Chester (who was himself beginning to turn colors) didn't seem to notice.

Though Arche was already standing, she seemed to grow a little taller. Chester rose as well, their eyes never leaving each other. Rage pulsed between them.

The other couple started backing towards the door. "This could be either very, VERY bad, or very, VERY good," Cress whispered to his betrothed.

The blonde healer didn't bother to answer him. "Domestic fights are the worst kind, Cress. Maybe we should get out of here."

Cress nodded as they slipped outside. "I remember how she and Claus used to bicker, as friends, using their magic against each other with good-natured intent. We DEFINITELY don't want to be here if those two start in on each other."

"Poor Chester," Mint sighed.

"Poor Chester?" Cress echoed.

"If he'd only told her he loved her in the past, this could have been avoided."

Cress sighed. "She could have made it easier on him."

"She loved you too, at first. She was even a little sweet on Claus, though that was more because of his magic abilities, I think. And he knew a LOT about hair care," Mint smiled. "You never stayed for those discussions, but the rest of us swapped tips a few times. Even Chester listened in, though he rarely said anything."

"Huh." Cress mulled that over for a bit. The voices inside were definitely getting louder and more vicious sounding. Dark, blue-tinted clouds seemed to be seeping up from the earth to shroud the house in a magical miasma.

"She's gotten very powerful." Cress breathed. The storm seemed to falter for a moment.

Mint nodded. "And VERY upset."

The clouds darkened again. Thunder rolled.

_Chester refused to look at her. It was hard enough to watch Claus leave, as the two men had become good friends. But watching Arche disappear back into history, to spend a hundred years of her life doing the gods knew what, and with whom. A hundred years until she saw him again, and he doubted she'd pine away for the likes of him. A beautiful, magical, talented half-elf would have no use for an ordinary archer like himself. So he knew a few tricks with a bow, so what? Claus had been wrong. Telling her of his love would only hurt them both. He heard her move to stand behind him. _

_"Let's not leave it like this."_

Arche had her back to the door, but Chester noticed when his friends slipped out. Their nervous expressions said plenty about their concerns, but he was too tired and upset to care anymore. Five years of waiting, holding out hope, and now she pulled tricks like this. Teasing him with half-confessions. Her body seemed to say yes, and even her heart wasn't in it when she said no, but still she played games.

"I can't believe after all this time you're still playing these stupid games!" He was about to lose his temper completely. Rage was all that kept him from collapsing in tears. "For the gods' sake, Arche!"

"You could have said something if it bothered you so much!"

"No, I couldn't! By the time I figured out I loved you, I didn't know HOW to change anything!"

"You... You loved me?" All the steam went out of her. All the anger, the energy, the emotional storms that had threatened to devour her, dissipated in an instant. She sank to the ground, clutching a chair even as her legs simply refused to support her. Her eyes blanked. "You... Loved me? You loved... Me?"

Chester, close to exploding, stared at her in surprise. "You didn't know?"

"How could I? YOU were always so defensive, even when I was leaving your hypersensitive butt alone!" Ever mercurial, Arche was back on her feet, eyes sparking with anger again, this time literally.

If his could have done likewise, they would have. "Claus never told you? He sure seemed to love butting into everyone's business!" Toe to toe with her now, Chester could feel his heart shattering with her breath on his lips. She didn't love him. That had been shock, not love, which had knocked her flat. If she had, she would have said something. Done something.

~Kind of like what she was doing now?~ His brain was lagging but it caught on to the fact that her breath was no longer on his lips. Hers were. The kiss was emotionally charged, and he felt the hair rising on his neck and realized that it was magically charged as well. ~Damn near got yourself killed there, didn't you,~ said the smug voice in his head.

~Shut up,~ he told it, and lost himself in her arms.

Outside, the storm clouds dissipated.

"It's getting rather warm out suddenly," Cress said, looking a little bewildered.

Mint only looked towards the house and smiled. "Let's go for a walk. I think we should check the campsite. I think I forgot something."

"Are you sure it's safe to leave?" Confusion turned to concern as he looked towards the house.

"I think so," Mint smiled knowingly, glancing over her shoulder at the house as she led Cress away. "Happy birthday, Arche."


	4. Chapter 4

Reunion, Part III

Reflection

(Author's Note : Needless to say, the characters, places, and all that are all property of Namco. I don't own any rights here.)

_They'd found where the castle was supposed to be. Come morning, they would be hunting for a castle in the skies; perhaps it was itself the reason for the darkness. But they were in Arlee, and the cold night prompted a long rest at the inn. Except no one seemed to be resting, and here he was stuck in the lobby with Arche, waiting for Claus to allow him his sleep... _

_"You and I have completely opposite personalities, don't we." Arche was saying._

_"Isn't that as it should be?" Chester had no idea why he said it, save that it seemed to fit the moment... He tried not to show how nervous he was. Apparently, he didn't quite succeed. _

_"Why do you always lash out?"_

_"I lash out! You've been on my case since I first saw you."_

_Arche glared. When she spoke, the words came very slowly. "Since You First Saw Me...?"_

_His face warmed. In fact, he felt altogether hot. Chester sighed happily. The steam of the hot springs was all around him. Intrigued by what he'd overheard, he climbed the wall, searching for a crack through which to peek at the girls' side. Yeah, Mint was stacked all right, but it was the slim, proud figure next to the shy blonde who caught his attention. If he hadn't already realized he was in love with her, he might well have fallen then. Suddenly, her outraged squawk echoed in his ears. "I always knew you were a bad boy!" She'd looked so good, he hadn't even minded (much) when she pitched the washtub at him. But instead of simply hitting him, it expanded to swallow him in darkness._

_A light appeared in the distance. He walked towards it, seeing a target. His bow and quiver were slung over his shoulder, so he unslung them and began practicing._

_Footsteps in the darkness were followed by a soft voice. "What're ya doin'?" He couldn't help it. He got defensive. And of course, she told him to relax. She seemed almost sad when she turned to leave. "Looking at you, I can't even breathe..." That was when he'd realized he loved her. It had made him so angry._

_But instead of the target, the arrow sped onward to pierce his heart and he found himself falling. He landed on his feet, bow and arrow at the ready. Electricity crackled in the air, and the triumphant glee on Claus' face told him that the pact with Volt had been successfully formed, language barrier aside. Arche was handing something to Cress, the dust still settling at her feet. But she looked angry. He knew what he'd said was cruel, but something about her just set him on edge. _

_"Chester, I REALLY REALLY HATE YOU!" But where he expected to feel only annoyance, and a minor sting. It hurt. He shrugged it off, reminding her that no one ever said she had to like him, but suddenly she pushed him off the cliff, and the rocks didn't seem about to disappear._

Chester woke up, short of breath and long on panic. Terror pulsed through his veins. Arche hated him! She had tried to kill him!

She stirred at his side, one arm flung loose from the sheets. "hmmm? Wha's wrong?" One bleary eye cracked to look at him, the satisfaction evident in the languorous pose she adopted lying next to him in the bed.

Chester blinked, his breath beginning to come more slowly. "You're here. It was only a dream..."

"What was a dream? This? No, Chester," Arche all but purred. "THIS is real. Here, let me show you," grinning smugly, she reached for him. Chester was all too happy to lose himself in her kiss.

"It can't not be real," she murmured softly. "Mmm, But let me get these covers off of you. Yum. Looking at you, I can't even breathe..." The crooked half-grin she gave him reassured him that she knew full well what she was saying, but meant something so different from the same phrase spoken once before, so long ago. Indeed, Arche's breathing sped up as she looked him over. Suddenly shy, Chester pulled the blanket back up over himself.

"Arche!" Red-faced, he tried not to enjoy her attentions too much. "It's late. We must have overslept." Suddenly realizing not only what he'd said but where, the archer found himself overcome by a wave of emotions so confused yet so uplifting he could only look about him in surprise.

"We must have," she said, all but purring. Last night had been... Indescribable. Well worth the wait, from either his five-year perspective, or hers with its extra hundred years. She did not look displeased.

"I had this dream. You hated me."

"I did, once." Suddenly serious, Arche sat up. Chester found himself staring at her, even as his mind tried to concentrate on her words. "When I first met you, I'd built up an awful lot of resentment. I mean, here's this really nice girl and this totally great guy come out of apparently nowhere, and totally out of nowhere, they help me to help my friend Rhea after she was killed. When I wake up, we're in some creepy basement and three people standing over me all look a little freaked out, and I don't blame them because I am too. Anyway, he's all sweet and protective and practically obsessed with fixing the future as I know it only because of his friend Chester." She wasn't looking at him; instead, Arche was tracing idle patterns over the sheet with one finger. "I'd been getting a bit of a crush on him, you know, all 'My hero!' and all that." She shrugged.

"I know." Chester tried to keep the resentment out of his voice. After all, it was he who'd shared Arche's bed. Cress and Mint were well suited for each other and so happy together that any tinge of jealousy was purely ridiculous, he knew.

"I figured... I guess I wasn't ever very good about hiding my feelings. Except from myself. But that's irrelevant now." She shot him a brief smile. "So yeah, I hated you, and you hated me. Seemed pretty simple."

"I guess it did, except for Claus."

Arche smiled wryly. Her hair hung down over her face, obscuring the flash of dread she couldn't fully conceal. Chester couldn't know. There was no way he could, and she wasn't planning to tell him. She wished Travis had never revealed so much about himself, and she tried to keep her tone neutral. "Except for Claus. You know, it's kinda funny. He didn't act much older than us, except sometimes. Like he was everybody's big brother and had to be in our business."

It was Chester's turn to smile without much humor. "You mean you think big brothers are nosy?"

Arche winced. "Chester. I'm sorry. I didn't think." She reached for him, and this time he let her pull him close. With his head on her chest, he sighed heavily. His sister's loss still hurt, and probably always would. Even though his parents had gone long before her, their passing stung him from time to time as well. So many people close to him died. He'd often wondered if he was cursed, though Claus had once told him that suffering young usually meant great destiny and long-term happiness. He didn't really believe the summoner, but it was a quasi-comforting thought.

"Chester, can I tell you something and you won't laugh?"

Raising his head, blue eyes looked at her with rising fear.

"It's about the past. When Cress and Mint came to my time. Well, the time when I was actually seventeen," she said drily. "I know they've told you some of what went on, and you know about how Mint healed Yggdrasil."

Chester nodded. "It's pretty impressive. Cress seems to like telling that part. Mint always gets embarrassed." He grinned, though there was no meanness in it.

Arche shook her head. "I'm not surprised. Well, here's the thing. I know Claus told you I'd had a boyfriend once, and that I wouldn't go near Unicorn."

Chester's face closed. "I don't think I want to hear this."

"It isn't what you think, Chester. Please," Arche begged. Something in her voice made him pause. "I've only ever told the whole truth once before, to one person." ~To your father.~ "And I'm telling you for the opposite reasons I told that person."

"Who?" He tried not to sound accusing.

"It doesn't matter. Someone from the past. And I told him about it because what he wanted... What WE wanted... was a bad idea. And he listened to me. And he didn't even laugh at me too much." Arche tried to smile but it didn't quite work. "I know Claus told you because he told me he did. But I never even told him the whole story because I knew he would never let it go.

"I know you probably will think I'm lying, but my boyfriend and I didn't do everything I thought we did. Back then, I actually kinda thought that anything more than kissing got you pregnant."

Chester snorted. "You have GOT to be kidding me."

"Well, if you think about it, remember when we got to the future and we visited Yggdrasil, what Martel said? And Martel is a Spirit! So if she could be that clueless, why not me?" Arche's face burned. "But no, I'm not kidding. Once, I let him do something more. Only once. And I thought it would keep the Unicorn from going anywhere near me. Remember, it was me and my father when I was growing up. I didn't really have anyone to teach me any of this stuff."

Curiosity was getting the better of him. He was beginning to believe, in spite of the unlikelihood; after all, who would willingly remain a virgin for well over a hundred years? Still. He had noticed certain things that she could not fake which lent her credibility. Claus had been wrong. Chester thrilled at the idea all over again that he was Arche's first, after all. and really, why else would she be telling him except that she wanted him to know that he really was her first? All the time, even with the ship's captain when they'd been seeking passage to Alvanista, she had been all talk. "What was this horrible thing you let him do that would totally destroy your innocence?"

Arche smiled suddenly and whispered in his ear.

Chester grinned. "Oh... Like this?" And he lowered his lips to her collarbone and began kissing...

Cress held Mint close to him. She still slept across the fire from him, and he respected her wishes, but now that morning had come and they were both awake, he was free to revel in her company. He wanted more, but he was content with her restriction to no more than kissing before the wedding. He knew that she felt as he did and so bore the wait patiently. Now that he knew Mint's take on the situation, he was equally happy to wait to hear from Chester and Arche before returning to the house in the mountains. His friends deserved their privacy.

"Mint?"

"Hmmm?" Drowsily, Mint raised her head from his shoulder. "What is it, Cress?"

The strapping young man looked down at the ground. "Do you remember, back in the past when we were trying to heal Yggdrasil?" Mint nodded. "And you went to the Unicorn, and Arche ran away?" Mint nodded again.

He fell silent for a moment. "What is it, Cress?" Mint asked again.

"Do you... Do you think the Unicorn would... umm... I mean... Arche thought that... Claus explained to me what was actually meant when the Unicorn said, you know, pure."

Mint smiled warmly. "Cress, I love you. I'm going to marry you. But if you don't just spit it out already, darling, I am going to Pow Pow Hammer you."

Cress had to laugh at that, and he hugged her closer. "Do you think she was afraid of the Unicorn?"

"Afraid?" Mint blinked. "Arche? I never thought about it."

"I don't believe what she said, back then, about having had a boyfriend. I mean, I believe she did but I don't think that was it."

Mint nodded. "She's too naive about certain things, or at least she was then. I don't doubt a century has changed her. She was always worried about what people thought of her, which itself is funny since she was always so good at... speaking freely," Mint finished with an embarrassed smile.

"Well put," Cress grinned.

"But whatever it is, she had her reasons, and I'm sure that she would have shared them if she felt comfortable. Since she didn't, Cress, let it go." Mint's own suspicions were that Arche was indeed afraid of the unicorn itself, rather than what it represented, but she kept silent. Arche's tendency to like floating higher than most creatures against which they came into conflict made Mint think that the slight sorceress had an inferiority complex, or at least a size issue. It wasn't the sort of thing to which she'd want attention called, Mint understood. "No matter what the issue was, it's all in the past."

"The distant past," Cress said thoughtfully. "And even more so for her than for us. You're right. I'm just worried, is all."

"Worried?"

Cress nodded. "Look at them. Look at everything they've been through. Everything we've all been through. It's just... I don't want to see them get hurt." He thought for a moment before speaking again. "They're both so..." He groped for a word.

"Temperamental?" Mint supplied gently, with a wry grin.

Cress grinned back. "Well, yeah. Not like us."

Mint hugged him happily. "No two people are alike, Cress, and certainly no two couples. I have a feeling that they'll be okay on their own together. We just need to be ready to take cover," she giggled.

"Sounds like a plan," Cress agreed as he pulled his fiancee back into his arms. Mint sighed happily, but Cress' initial concern had become her own. WAS the young sorceress afraid of anything she couldn't intimidate? If so, then there might be more to worry about with her and Chester than Mint had initially suspected. Then again, all signs had thus far pointed to Arche scaring the daylights out of their friend from day one.

It was past noon when Arche flew out to the camp, Chester balancing precariously on the broom behind her and looking a tad bit pale. "Hey guys! We wondered what was keeping you!"

"We didn't want to interrupt. You two were having such a lovely argument, we figured we'd get out of explosion range." Mint giggled at the indignant look on her friends' faces.

"Oh brother," Cress muttered. "She's kidding!" Mint elbowed him, cutting off his protests.

"I knew that," Arche grumbled. Chester sat down on the grass, looking very grateful to be back on solid, unmoving ground once more.

"So what do you want to do for your birthday, Arche?" Cress shot Mint a surprised look, while the latter's utterly innocent expression didn't waver. Her heart was pure, but she had been around the world several times, IN several times, and had either picked up or simply begun to express a surprisingly ribald sense of humor. It still never failed to surprise her friends.

Arche, however, took it in stride; if she even picked up on the joke, she gave no sign. "Oh, but seeing you guys is the best present I could have asked for!" She blushed. "Although I'm afraid I wasn't a very good hostess."

Chester reddened, and Cress couldn't help himself. "I don't think Chess here agrees with that," he snickered.

The blue haired young man flung a pebble at his friend, who ducked. "Shut up!" Cress only laughed harder, as Chester grew redder.

Mint sighed and shook her head. "Boys will be boys," she commiserated with Arche. "You were saying?"

"Well, other than seeing you guys again, I can't think of anything else I'd rather do. It's so great to be together again!" The sorceress was almost bouncing up and down in her excitement. "You know, all these weird flashbacks we've all been having, maybe it's a sign we should go adventuring again!"

The others exchanged glances. "You know, that might not be a bad idea," Cress said.

"The city's rebuilt, the Albane School is back on its feet, there are other healers around. There's nothing to keep us from going away for a bit," Mint said.

"But where would we go? And what would we do? There aren't many monsters left, and there's nowhere we haven't been." Chester looked disappointed.

"And without the Techbirds," Cress sighed, "No way to get there but walk."

Arche looked at Chester. "He's STILL grumbling about that?" The archer nodded.

Mint looked at the swordsman fondly. "And he probably always will." Mint surreptitiously slipped a hand into her bulky healer's kit. Yes, the pack was still there.

"For one of the so-called Heroes of Space and Time, he sure is whiny," Chester teased his friend. "Still, much as I never really liked those things, they were efficient."

"I thought you loved them!" Cress was surprised.

Chester shook his head. "You did. Me, I'm not much of a big fan of flying. Unless you're an arrow or a bird, 's'far as I'm concerned, you belong on the ground. No offense," he shrugged at Arche.

"I did notice that flying isn't for everyone," she replied airily.

"Walking is good for the body and for the soul," Mint pointed out calmly. "So, where are we walking?"

"Well, we could always just pick a direction and see where we end up," Cress said.

"As long as we end up at home," Arche said. The others looked at her, surprised.

"Home?"

With a blush, she avoided Chester's questioning look. "Yeah. You know. Where you end up living." With a rustle of straws, she was up on her broom and hovering over their heads. "Family and friends type home." Smiling brightly, she added, "But first, let's go learn stuff!"

Her friends laughed, linked arms, and started walking a little to the left of the rising sun.


	5. Chapter 5

Reunion Epilogue

(Author's Note: Needless to say, the characters, places, and all that are all property of Namco. I don't own any rights here.)

Recollection

"This is weird," Cress said, smiling. "Avoiding ourselves. Knowing that at this very moment, somewhere else in the world, we're here as kids, discovering our own futures... Fighting Dhaos and kicking his-"

"Cress," Mint smiled back. "But you're right. To think our own children are older than ourselves. Our OTHER selves," she clarified.

"The best part is we know where we went then so we can avoid those places now at those times so we don't meet ourselves," Arche giggled. Unlike her friends, she looked to be in her late thirties; in truth, she was a full century older (give or take two years) than their sixty-seven years.

"I'm just glad you were able to hide up there." Chester wasn't quite feeling the effects of his years, and had recently tried his luck in the Euclidian competitions for the fun of it. He had been confined to his bed, in agony, while his wife and their friends hid out in the rebuilt second floor of what had once been his family's home, and was now restored. Chester had remembered wondering what happened to the second floor when he'd come into the future the first time around. Now he knew: he'd hidden it himself so that it could be used as a place to hide when their alternate selves came to what was now their present.

Unfortunately, he'd allowed himself to get distracted, and ended up having to hide in plain sight, blankets pulled up over his face, praying his granddaughter didn't mention his name in front of himself. Himyoungself?

Mint had healed him, of course, as soon as she'd come downstairs, but he'd been careful not to reveal that to anyone until after they knew that their group would be safely ensconced in Dhaos' castle, preparing for the ultimate confrontation. He'd had to lie in bed for days on end, pretending to be in agony, with the covers pulled up over his face. It had been the hardest thing he ever did, not laughing when he'd told Cress' younger self where to find the Secret Skill book.

Regret tinged their memories a bittersweet hue, for Dhaos had not sought to destroy and conquer for no purpose. Indeed, his ulterior motive had been to save his own world; but despite occasional doubts on Arche's part especially, it had taken his demise for that fact to come to light. Of course, his methods could have been more neighborly...

"We should be hearing from Suzu soon. It'll be even weirder," Arche mused. "I mean, she's still eleven but we're much older than the we she's getting to know right now."

Mint nodded. "Think I should tell her she's our granddaughter?" she asked her husband.

Cress shook his head. "Not yet. Wait until she's ready. Let her get to know us as we are now first."

Mint smiled. "With everything that happened to her, I think she'd be thrilled that while her parents are gone, she actually did know her maternal grandparents - when they were not much older than her, at that!"

Chester sighed and shook his head. "I wish I'd known back then."

"It's better this way," Arche said softly. "If you had known that Claus was going to end up being your great grandfather, it might have altered things. Maybe Suzu shouldn't even find out at all."

"I don't agree, Arche," Cress said. Stretching tiredly, he rose to pace the room. They were all in good shape, but time left them alone no more than it had anyone else. "I think it would comfort her to know the truth. In due course," he added. "How odd is it that we all ended up related, somehow, in the end?"

"Not odd at all," Mint said. "Fate has its own way of doing things. Even if we do have a grandchild in common, and another on the way, it isn't as if we planned things to happen as they did. Who would have thought your eldest daughter would marry my son? And I certainly didn't expect my daughter to run away, change her name, and become a Ninja, no matter her reasoning," she laughed. There was little humor and much pain in the sound.

Knowing that she had already witnessed her daughter's demise before she'd known of her birth had scarred Mint's heart in a way she feared would never heal; as soon as Aloe had contacted them from the village, Mint and Cress knew. They had always regretted the loss of contact, but as Mint often said, Fate is not often kind. Knowing what they did, the couple had opted to let their daughter believe they were too hurt by her apparent defection. She had explained at the time that her heart lay elsewhere, and her duties would be her first priority. Cress and Mint had let her go.

Aloe had fallen in love with a Ninja training near their home. She had told them she would be leaving Miguel to live in Japoni. Cress and Mint had thought nothing of it until their daughter changed her name to Okiyo. They'd talked about it a lot before they severed contact with her. The hardest part was knowing in advance, and being helpless to change what had originally happened. Though for them, it was fifty years in the past, it was also happening right now. Cress still blamed himself. It had been by his own blade, after all, that his daughter's fate had come to pass. He and Mint had raised Aloe and her twin sister Rose, and their younger brother Thorne, with the understanding of what Dhaos' true mission had been; they had never considered the consequences. He often wondered how they had turned out to be so different.

Not that it was anything they could have controlled, or would if they had been able to. Now, they took one another's hands.

"I'm sorry," Arche said softly. "I didn't mean to upset you guys."

"It's okay," Mint replied. "Life goes on. We, too, shall leave this life someday, hopefully far in the future." Her hair, now a white-gold hue, still fell long and healthy down her straight back, but her healer's hands were stiffening with age, ever so slightly. Her face, ever gentle, was beginning to show the map of her years.

Cress and Chester were faring no worse. Unfortunately, and much to Chester's ever increasing frustration, they weren't faring much better, either. Still, knowing what he did, he supposed he was lucky. He had aged, but not quite as much as his friends. As for Arche...

She hugged everyone enthusiastically. She couldn't age herself faster, but at one hundred and sixty nine she dreaded losing her friends more than ever. Though half elves would eventually become accepted by society, she was getting more set in her ways, and even her mother was venturing into her twilight years. Still, Arche had long ago determined not to live her life in fear of losing those close to her. Now that Half Elves were permitted back into the colony, she was entertaining the notion of retiring there and helping to run the inn for a while. But that was in the future - the distant future, she hoped.

"I wonder what Claus would say about all this," Chester mused.

"He'd say he told me so, and told me to tell you so, and that I have no bragging rights because I didn't," Arche groused.

The archer grinned and hugged his wife. "You'll get over it."

Arche grumbled.

"One of these centuries." Chester grinned and ducked.

"Come on, won't you two ever grow up?" Cress teased them good-naturedly.

"Probably not," Mint responded, leaning against him. "Which is fine with me, honestly. Someone's got to keep you young, you old man," she smiled.

"You keep me young," he said valiantly.

Mint shook her head. "No. I keep you healthy. THEY keep us young," she said, indicating their friends. Arche was chasing Chester around the table, waving her broom at him. Mint sighed happily. "Sometimes, change is good. And sometimes, no change is good too."

Cress nodded. "You know, if we looked at ourselves, we'd probably look like kids."

"We do," Chester said, "and we were. When I think about it, I'm impressed all over again. It was like we were on top of the world. We could do anything. We did. It kind of makes the rest of our lives a little anti-climactic, though," he said as he turned and caught his wife, wrestling the broom away from her.

"Just a little," Cress grinned. "But as long as we're healthy, we're having a good time, and we have each other, that's what matters. Still, it's a shame about the Techbirds though. Do you think they'll ever bring those back?" His grin was a little wistful. Mint smiled secretively but Cress didn't notice; she had saved them and put them away. Just in case.

"Get over it," Chester tossed over his wife's back as he hoisted her to his shoulder. "For now, I'm going to take this little girl home and give her a sound -"

"CHESTER YOU PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Arche cut him off with an indignant shriek.

Mint and Cress' laughter followed them out the door.


End file.
